Dover port officials ‘deeply frustrated’ with coach delays

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The Port of Dover has said it is “deeply frustrated” as coach traffic continues to face “significant delays”.

The port, which has declared a critical incident, said the delays were “due to lengthy French border processes and sheer volume”.

Extra coach bookings taken by ferry operators for Easter had affected operations, a statement on the port’s website said on Saturday morning.

P&O Ferries apologised for the waiting times for coaches travelling from Dover, while DFDS said it was expecting a busy weekend and advised passengers to allow extra time to complete border and check-in procedures.

A statement from the port said: “The Port of Dover is deeply frustrated by last night’s and this morning’s situation and particularly so on behalf of all the ferry operators’ coach passengers who have had to endure such a long wait at the port.

“Whilst freight and car traffic was processed steadily regardless of the additional challenging weather conditions and high seasonal volumes, coach traffic suffered significant delays due to lengthy French border processes and sheer volume.

“Despite considerable pre-planning with our ferry operators, border agency partners and the Kent resilience forum, and the success of similar plans for processing substantial numbers of coaches during the most recent half-term period, the additional coach bookings taken by ferry operators for Easter have impacted operations for the port.”

The port said food and drink had been provided to coach passengers in the queues, adding: “We offer our sincere apologies for the prolonged delays that people have endured and continue to work with all of our partners to get all passengers on their way as quickly as possible.”

The port did not say how long it expected wait times to be for Saturday.

DFDS said on Twitter on Friday night that the wait time for coaches was about seven hours from arrival at the port.

A spokesperson for DFDS Seaways said: “The queues at Dover today have been as a result of bad weather causing delays to sailings, combined with high volumes of traffic, and particularly coach groups.

“DFDS is working to keep passengers up to date via its website and social media channels, and is transporting passengers on the next available sailing once they have checked in.

“It has also been working with coach operators to speed up the check-in process for coach passengers.”